1 The statistics in this publication were compiled from data collected in the Involvement in Organised Sport and Physical Activity Survey conducted throughout Australia in April 2010 as part of the Monthly Population Survey (MPS). The MPS consists of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and supplementary surveys.

2 The publication Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) contains information about survey design, sample redesign, scope, coverage and population benchmarks relevant to the monthly LFS, which also apply to supplementary surveys. It also contains definitions of demographic and labour force characteristics, and information about interviewing which are relevant to both the monthly LFS and supplementary surveys.

SCOPE

3 The scope of the survey is restricted to people aged 15 years and over who were usual residents of private dwellings and excludes:

members of the permanent defence forces

certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from the Census of Population and Housing and estimated resident populations

overseas residents in Australia

members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants).

4 In 2010, this survey was conducted in both urban and rural areas in all states and territories, but excluded people living in Indigenous communities in very remote parts of Australia. Previous cycles of this survey have excluded all persons living in very remote areas.

COVERAGE

5 The estimates in this publication relate to persons covered by the survey in April 2010. In the LFS, coverage rules are applied which aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling, and hence had only one chance of selection in the survey. See Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) for more details.

DATA COLLECTION

6 Information was mainly collected through interviews conducted over a two week period in April 2010. Interviews were conducted either face-to-face or over the telephone. Information was obtained from any responsible adult in the household who was asked to respond on behalf of one randomly selected person aged 15 years and over in the household. A second wave of data collection was conducted over a two week period in July/August for persons aged 15-17 years as the April sample for this age group was not sufficient to produce reliable estimates.

7 In each selected household, information was collected on whether the selected person was involved in organised sport or physical activity in either playing or non-playing roles. This excluded persons who were involved only as a spectator or only as a club member. Information was also collected on the characteristics of persons involved, the nature of involvement (whether paid or unpaid) and, for persons involved in non-playing roles, whether they were involved in school or junior sport and whether they had completed a course or held qualifications for the role they performed.

8 All interviews were conducted using computer assisted interviewing (CAI).

SAMPLE SIZE

9 Supplementary surveys are not always conducted using the full LFS sample. Since August 1994 the sample for supplementary surveys has been restricted to no more than seven eighths of the LFS sample.

10 Approximately 96% of selected households were fully responding to the survey of Involvement in Organised Sport and Physical Activity. One randomly selected person per household was interviewed for the survey of Involvement in Organised Sport and Physical Activity and around 24,000 completed interviews were obtained.

DATA INTERPRETATION

11 Each person could have been involved in one or more of the following six categories of non-playing roles: coach, instructor or teacher; committee member or administrator; referee or umpire; scorer or timekeeper; medical support; and other role. Participation in each category was recorded only once, even if a person was involved in that role for a number of different sports or activities during the 12-month reference period. For example, a person on the committees of a tennis club and a netball club would be recorded only once as being involved as a committee member or administrator. Therefore, figures shown for each playing or non-playing role represent counts of persons involved in that type of role across all organised sport and physical activities.

12 Each person could have been involved as a player or participant, as well as undertaking one or more non-playing roles. For example, a person who coached and played sport would have been counted once in the 'coach, instructor or teacher' category and once as a 'player'.

13 Payment status was classified into two categories, namely, some paid involvement and unpaid involvement only. In Table 5, persons involved in more than one of type of role (player, coach, etc.) who received some monetary payment or goods and services for their involvement in any of these roles would be considered as having some paid involvement. In Table 4, only persons who received some payment in a non-playing role were considered to have some paid involvement. For example, if a person was unpaid for their involvement as a coach but received some payment in dollars or goods and services for their involvement as a player, they would be classified as having 'Some paid involvement' in Table 5, but as 'Unpaid involvement only' in Table 4.

COMPARABILITY OF TIME SERIES

14 In previous surveys, 'other' roles were collected and then recoded where necessary during output processing. For the first time in 2010, 'other' roles were coded during the interview using a coder. The coder contained a list of possible 'other' roles and the relevant group for each of these roles. For example, the role 'Canteen worker' was in the coder with an associated group of 'other' role, while the role 'Lifesaver' was in the coder with an associated group of 'player, participant or competitor'. This may have some impact on results.

15 The inclusion of persons living in very remote parts of Australia and not in Indigenous communities is likely to compromise the comparability of Northern Territory estimates only.

17 Due to differences in the questions asked, the reference periods and the survey methodologies, results from these surveys are not comparable. For information on the collection method, reference period and definitions used in the MPHS please refer to Participation in Sports and Physical Recreation, Australia (cat. no. 4177.0).

RELIABILITY OF THE ESTIMATES

18 Estimates in this publication are subject to sampling and non-sampling error.

19 Sampling error is the difference between the published estimate and the value that would have been produced if all dwellings had been included in the survey. For further information on sampling error, refer to the Technical Note.

20 Non-sampling errors are inaccuracies that occur because of imperfections in reporting by respondents and interviewers, and errors made in coding and processing data. These inaccuracies may occur in any enumeration, whether it be a full count or a sample. Every effort is made to reduce non-sampling error to a minimum by careful design of questionnaires, intensive training and supervision of interviewers and efficient processing procedures.

ADDITIONAL DATA AVAILABILITY

21 All of the tables included in this publication are also available as Excel spreadsheet datacubes from the ABS website <www.abs.gov.au>. There are also some additional tables at the state level available for download as Excel spreadsheet datacubes only.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

22 ABS surveys draw extensively on information provided by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated, as without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.